USC remains a puzzle to UCLA coach Howland

For the majority of his tenure in Los Angeles, Ben Howland has been one of the more celebrated college coaches in the country.

The 55-year-old has arguably produced more active NBA talent than any of his peers. He reached three straight Final Fours, a milestone matched by only Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski.

Three different conferences have named him coach of the year.

Still, one team has haunted him: USC - a squad he'll see again at 12:30 p.m. today. Howland bears a lackluster 13-9 record against the crosstown rival.

This despite the Trojans having cycled through five different coaches over the UCLA coach's 10 seasons.

The Bruins have been swept by the Trojans just six times in the past 52 years. Two of those sweeps happened during Howland's tenure, first in 2004 and again in 2009. A third instance would be the ugliest signifier of a season gone wrong - one that has seen UCLA devolve from preseason Final Four contender to a team ripe for a coaching change.

The Trojans stunned the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion over three weeks ago, debuting in the new stadium with a 75-71 overtime upset. It marked UCLA's only consecutive loss this season, and sent USC on a four-game winning streak that made interim coach Bob Cantu a legitimate candidate for the full-time job.

That game had senior point guard Larry Drew II seething afterward, promising that the rematch would be "war."

Upon reviewing the film, Howland captured the feeling in one word: depressing. It was a sentiment echoed down the roster, a haunting feeling that will likely keep the team on edge as it prepares for today's tipoff at the Galen Center.

"Seeing how they beat us here, everyone's a little pissed," UCLA junior forward Travis Wear said. "More intense and angry. We want to go over there and we want to beat them. Simple as that."

Added freshman Kyle Anderson, who still remembers the Trojans' raucous celebration on his court: "Just as a team, how excited they looked when they beat us. They did all that extra stuff in the middle of our court. I'm sold on (the rivalry) now. I'm looking to go do the same thing."

Most troubling for the Bruins lately has been their inconsistent offense, one that has sunk below 40 percent shooting four times in the past six games.

Howland's solution was to scale back the playbook. After using around 18 to 20 offensive sets for most of the season, he wanted to simplify the scheme even further for his young team coming off a quick turnaround. In last Saturday's win at Stanford, he cut that number down to nine. UCLA shot 54 percent from the field and scored 88 points, its highest total of the calendar year.